Thing 7

• Email: Our library media program relies heavily on email. It is the preferred method of communication with teachers and staff at the present time. Teachers check their email multiple times during the day, so communication is timely.
  
• Share your thoughts on online reference using some of the other Web 2.0 communication tools: Just for fun, I sent a reference request through the Hennepin County Library web page. The link, Ask a Librarian, offers help online, by email, phone or in person. I chose email. They promise to reply within 48 hours. This seemed inconvenient until I received their response within an hour or two. What was so great was not only the actual content (links to articles, PDFs, etc) but they include a short tutuorial on the search terms they used and where they found the information. They also offer suggestions for further research steps I could do as a follow up. Very impressive!
  
• Are you an active user of text messaging, IM, or other communication tools? Within the media tech staff, we use instant messaging as well as a pager system. Both seem to be effective in terms of communicating and responding in a timely fashion. Just the other day, I asked our building tech to unblock De.li.cious so I could access my bookmarks at school. As I stood by his desk, he sent an IM to the District lead tech and she responded instantly. I waited about 10 seconds for my request to be executed.
  
• Which OPAL or MINITEX Web conference (Webinar) did you attend? How was it? What do you think of this communication tool? I am signed up for a Webinar conference later in August. To fulfill Thing 7, I viewed an archived recorded version of the ELM overview. It was very informative and I ended up putting it on De.li.cious so I could refer to it whenever needed. The entire Webinar menu is amazing. I will return to this site often for professional development on my terms. Wonderful!